Boxcar door control



Sept 23, 1969 G. M. amsn-:R 3,468,062

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Unted States Patent O 3,468,062 BOXCAR DOOR CONTROL George M. Custer, Lancaster, Pa., assignor to Hennessy Products, Inc., Chambersburg, Pa., a corporation of Delaware Filed July 19, 1967, Ser. No. 654,563 Int. Cl. E05f 11/34, 1.7/40

U.S. Cl. 49-362 4 Claims ABSTRACT F THE DISCLOSURE Railway car side wall with a door opening provided with a sliding door for closing the opening and a gear mounted on the car wall and operating a rack connected to the door to move the door to full open and closed positions and to hold the door at a selected position. The rack has a main part, and a separate portion pivoted to the main part, and automatically folded under the main part, as the door is opened, to clear a ladder or other car wall part. A bracket on the car wall supports the outer end of the rack when the door is in wide open position.

The invention relates to boxcar sliding doors, which `are difficult to open and close even when the cars are new. After the car has been in service a substantial length of time, the difficulty is increased by the corrosion, misalignment from hard usage due to prying or to ramming the door with a forklift or use of a sledgehammer. It is common practice to provide a recess receiving the front edge of the door and forcing the door into the recess to insure against loss of lading, and this tight engagement is likely to increase the difculty of opening the door. It a door ydoes not close readily it is often left open during transit when the car is empty, which is contrary to good practice and regulations, and frequently permits the door to ride back and forth during acceleration and deceleration of the car travel or due to impacts during switching.

The general objects of the invention are to overcome the above objectionable conditions, to avoid the disregard of rules, to promote safety of workmen in and about the doors and to avoid injury to the car structure.

These objects are attained by journaling a pinion on the car wall and providing a cooperating rack connected to the rear portion of the door, the pinion being readily actuated by a reduction gear enabling the workman to apply necessary force to open and close the door without any of the objectionable practices mentioned.

In the accompanying drawings illustrating a selected embodiment of the invention:

FIG. 1 is an elevation of a portion of a boxcar showing a sliding door and a rack and pinion operating structure and associated structure.

FIG. 2 is a horizontal section approximately on line 2 2 of FIG. l and drawn to an enlarged scale.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged scale elevation and vertical section through the operating mechanism.

FIG. 4 is a transverse vertical section on line 4-4 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a detail elevation of the right hand end of the rack and a support bracket therefor on the car wall showing the hinging of the rack end portion on the main part of the rack to shorten the effective lengths of the rack which might otherwise `strike a ladder stile or other car part projecting from the wall.

FIG. 6 is a top view of a detail of the connection between the door and the rack.

The car illustrated includes the usual side wall 1 with door opening 2 to which is applied a door 3 mounted on a track 4 extending parallel to the wall but spaced outwardly therefrom and supported by brackets 5 on the car wall or sill.

Mounted on the car Wall is a housing 10 which journals gears 11, 12 and driving pinions 13, 14. A rack 16 is slidable horizontally through housing 10 forwardly and rearwardly of the car and is o'f channel cross section with its web uppermost and its depending llanges 17 receiving gear 12 between them. The web has a series of apertures 18 which mesh with gear 12 so that the rack is moved to the right or left by the rotation of the gear. A cross larm or other type of driving wheel 19 rotates the first pinion 13 and through it gear 11, the second pinion 14 and gear 12 affording ample increase in elfort applied to arms 19 to start and complete the door closing or opening movements.

Housing 10 includes a recess 21 (FIG. 3) which receives a vertically sliding locking bolt 22 having a wide lower end 23 which drops into a wider rack aperture 18a when the door is open and holds the rack against movement unless the bolt is raised.

'Ihe left hand end of the rack is connected to the rear portion of door 3 by a clevis 25 or similar device, the connection providing suicient play to avoid binding such as would attend a riveted connection.

Preferably the right hand portion of rack 16 includes a terminal section 27 hinged to the main portion of the rack by linkage 28 (FIG. 5) Iand free to swing to the depending position shown in dotted lines in FIG. 1. When the rack is moved to the extreme right hand position the depending terminal 27 will ride over an inclined element 29 on a bracket 30 secured to the car wall and fold under the rack to avoid interference with a nearby laddder and for stable support for the outer end of the rack.

Track 4, rack 16, housing 10 and door 3 are in substantially the same general vertical plane and do not project from the car wall a substantially greater distance than the door or interfere with established clearance limitations.

With this mechanism a workman may stand at a substantial distance from the `door and door opening and operate the hand wheel 19 without 'being injured by the door being forcibly dislodged laterally from its mounting, or by lading dislodged from the doorway after the latter is opened. The door is locked in open position by dropping bolt 22 through the rack. To obtain the best results the rack should be at least as long as the door and the housing for the operating gear should be spaced from the door opening a distance approximately equal to that of the width of the door and door opening.

The details of the invention may be varied substantially without departing from the `spirit of the invention and the exclusive use of those modifications as come within the scope of the claims is contemplated.

What is claimed is:

1. In combination, a railway car wall with a door opening, a door slidable along the wall for closing the opening, and means for moving the door to and from the opening, said means comprising a rack corresponding in length to the door and having a connection at one end to the rear of the door and extending therefrom a distance approximating the width of the door, and a drive gear engaging said rack and journaled on the car wall at a distance from the door opening approximately the width o'f the door, the rack including a main part and a relatively short section near the end of the rack remote from the door and pivoted at one end tothe main part to swing downwardly in a plane parallel to the car wall to shorten the over-all extension of the rack from the door as it is moved away from the opening.

2. 'Ihe combination of a car wall, door and door moving means as described in claim 1 which includes a |bracket on the wall forming an inclined track engaging the depending rack section as the door approaches full open position, and automatically raising the section into folded position immediately beneath the main part.

3. The combination of a car wall, door and door moving means as described in claim 2 in which the bracket 5 stably supports the adjacent portions of the rack when the door is open.

4. The combination of a car wall, door and door moving means as described in claim 1 in which the rack and door are secured to each other by a vertical pivot connection providing lateral play between them to avoid binding of the door against xed elements of the car Wall.

4 References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 380,690 4/1888 Peirce 49-362 2,065,431 12/1936 Cotter 49-362 FOREIGN PATENTS 255,253 10/1927 Italy.

DAVID I. WILLIAMOWSKY, Primary Examiner O J. KARL BELL, Assistant Examiner 

